Most of us have made jokes about political correctness, or been annoyed by it. The rise of public relations firms and the use of focus groups provide politicians with ways to put their efforts into more pleasing language. We shrug such things off, but it is a very serious problem.

We have sneered at Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano’s effort to refer to terrorist attacks as “man-caused disasters,”without appreciating the extent to which we are being misled. When we learn that terms such as “Islamic radicalism” have been officially removed from American security documents and replaced with “new euphemisms to emphasize that the United States does not view Muslim nations through the lens of terrorism, we are being misled.” 9/11 was NOT a “Man-caused disaster. it was an act of war that killed nearly 3,000 people in a vicious attack by Islamic radicals.

Facing the facts directly means that we look at the actions and events that followed in a clear light. Euphemisms destroy our understanding, and change our votes — which is what was intended.

That should clarify the dispute over the mosque at Ground Zero. President Obama called 9/11 a “traumatic” incident. The Islamic radicals, the terrorists who perpetrated the attack become “extremists” or “militants.” In the fear of offending, we are lied to. And the lies have consequences. Using soft, gentle, namby-pamby words we are told that it isn’t really important, never-mind, just move along, nothing to see here — don’t blame us! Liberals call people who carry signs in Tea Party protests — extremists.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner had a “re-branding program” designed to keep us from understanding clearly just what was happening to our financial sector and our economy. The Bank Bailout Plan became “the Financial Stability Plan” and then morphed into “the Public-Private Investment Program.

American Thinker had an article headlined “Geithner Plan for Banks Leaked — A Trillion More Down the Toilet.” Now that’s clarity. Secretary Geithner preferred to refer to all those toxic mortgages as “The Challenge of Legacy Assets.” Who is going to get irate about “legacy assets?”

Major Nidal Hassan was known to his military associates and superiors as a somewhat troubled personality. They probably knew more than that, but ideas about “political correctness” and the value of “diversity” put everyone in a tolerant doze. Consider the synonyms for “tolerance:” lenient, forbearant, permissive, indulgent, complaisant, liberal, indulgent. Weak words for weak posturing — take no action, be kind, don’t offend, So, quite deliberately, no one noticed that he was a little, um, extreme in his adherence to Islam, and so a lot of people died unnecessarily.

Don’t let them get away with it. Demand truth and accuracy. Laugh and poke fun at examples of political correctness, diversity, and multiculturalism.

All cultures are not equal. We don’t execute people who commit adultery (or who are claimed to have) by stoning them to death. We do not throw acid in the faces of girls who commit the sin of going to school. We do not cut off noses and ears as punishment. And in not understanding, we become pawns, and soft, and lazy — and unprepared.

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Alternate procedures is very suitably wimpy. I’m not sure if ‘enemy’ combatants is soft enough–the ‘enemy’ designation still contains an unfriendly tone, and ‘combatant’ implies combat. How about ‘altercation detainees’ or ‘contentiousness detainees’?

“9/11 was NOT a ‘Man-caused disaster’. It was an act of war that killed nearly 3000 people”

Phew, talk about misleading use of language and inappropriate polemic. An “act of war”, by definition of the term, is hostile action that is carried out BY A NATION against another nation. Something done by a private group of people does not meet that definition, unless they acted on government orders. The high number of casualites does not make a terrorist act an “act of war”. Just sayin’.